Rating: 
Summary: Wow, where did he go?
Review: I loved Dune. I enjoyed Dune Messiah and Children of Dune. My brain was stretched by God Emperor of Dune (perversely my favourite in the series). Heretics of Dune was exciting and promised good things for the final chapter.Then I read Chapterhouse: Dune. I once read a review which stated "This is not a book to be set aside lightly. It should be thrown, with emphatic force." Now I understand. I slogged through the slowest of the slow (and let's face it, the Dune books are meditative at the best of times), most plodding book I have ever read, hoping that maybe something on the next page would redeem it. People that I came to care about in previous installments just stopped mattering to me. By the end I was reading just so I could say I'd read the whole series. And let's face it, we can tell that Herbert was ramping up for another couple books with this one, can't we. So many things left hanging, knots untied, events unexplained. I'll probably read the series again, but I'll stop with Heretics. Colour me unimpressed.
Rating: 
Summary: The Most Influential Series I have EVER read.
Review: THis book is the conclusion to Dune. I believe that Frank Herbert had more in store for his readers before he died because he leaves you hanging with no clue what will happen. It is a great book but a bad conclusion to a great series. But, who is to blame for that?
Rating: 
Summary: waiting vainly for the sequel...
Review: I read the first of Dune series 14 years ago, and had no conception of the breathtaking distances that the author would take towards the "last" book of the Dune Chronicles. While it is conceivable that someone with sufficient patience can read Chapterhouse Dune and fully appreciate it with no other Dune Chronicles exposure, it would seem criminal to recommend this book to someone without ensuring they had read the first five beforehand. Or, for something of a treat, read Chapterhouse, and then jump to the first five as "prequels"! I recently did something similar when I read the second and third Dune Chronicle books for the first times in 14 years, having reread the last two books in the last few months: quite an enthralling effect! The hardest part of reading this book was coming to the ending, and feeling selfishly deprived regarding the prospect of finding out What Will Happen Next as a result of the author's death, which in turn came shortly after the death of his wife following a long fight with cancer. Herbert created an astonishing world of breathtakingly evolved characters and contexts to appreciate them in. I have reread this book and others of the series numerous times. As is the case for meeting interesting characters in real life, it is poignant getting to know these characters only to lose the ability to anticipate being in touch with them later on, to find out how they're doing... The formidable detail and richness of perspectives is such that while reading it I was at times fearful of discovering a gimmick or a cliche to undo the trance worked by the book. This never happened. The publishing of the Dune Prequels is quite exciting in itself, and I hope that somewhere in the late elder Herbert's notes, are some detailed indications of SEQUELS, future Atreides audacities, Bene Gesserit contemplations and plotting, and passionately drawn characters to fall in love with and be fascinated by all over again.
Rating:
Summary: Bene Gesserits are the key
Review: As I read the first Dune books, I was fascinated by the Bene Gesserit. When Chapterhouse Dune came out, totally dedicated to them, it was terrific. As other reviewers have said, "If you like the Bene Gesserit, their mystery, their centuries- long dedication, you'll love Chapterhouse. If you don't, you won't." Makes onewonder if a Bene Gesserit type group is really "behind things" in our world, too. Maybe. Maybe not. Hmmmmmmm?
Rating:
Summary: Very good ending to a great series
Review: I am a new fan to the Herbert Series. After being initially disappointed with the first book, I recently started reading up on the later books. From Dune Messiah to ChapterHouse, I was held to my seat. Each novel getting better. I felt Herberts style became more pronounced, character development was much more a focus then plot. The mulit layer politics kept the pages turning. Just when you thought it would slow down, he throws another teaser at you. Riviting from begining to end. No there wasn't much action, but I think there was more to the story to keep things going. The unnknowns kept you guessing on how it was going to end. I would recommend this series to anyone, but becareful, you will seldom find a plot as drawn out with as many twists. You may find the rest of the world too boring:)
Rating:
Summary: Barely got through it.
Review: Boy, what a disappointment. The previous book promised some action, and it didn't happen till 3 chapters to the end and even then in was ho-hum. A lot of questions left unanswered and as a whole very unsatisfying.
Rating:
Summary: ZEN
Review: I have begun re-reading the entire series after 6 years. After all of the intense, and intricate pages that precede the final chapter of the final book, the ending although (seemingly) simple on the surface actually shows us the utterly complicated nature of the universe, and that is, although layered and complicated, the truth of things IS simplicity, and that endings are never just endings, read between the lines, you'll understand.
Rating:
Summary: An ending as complex as the beginning
Review: Okay. Flat out... is it as good as the original? No way. Is it worth reading? Yes. The story does go on though the plot thas shifted from the epic mythos of the Kwisatz Haderach, but hey, there's finally a strong female character who doesn't get killed off. The multilayered politics will keep your brain actively involved.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst of the series
Review: I liked the first Dune series. Herbert should have stopped there. The last three books are merely a pedestal for Herbert's personal philosophy. While there were kernels of truth to all of the endless philosophical one-liners that everyone spouted, the rest of the novel (an actually well-devised story) was totally ruined by all of this rambling. The books could have been a lot shorter, or those pages could have been better spent developing characters further.
Rating:
Summary: the best Dune book since the first
Review: this book details the seeming hopeless struggle of the Bene Gesserit against the Honored Matres, who have destroyed Arrakis and driven the Bene Gesserit into hiding on the hidden planet Chapterhouse. there, the Bene Gesserit are creating a new Dune and attempting to breed a new population of the great sandworms. as usual, Herbert has severely altered his focus between books, although this time not quite as drastically. still, it is wise while reading Herbert to not become attached to characters, alliances or situations as they are subject to drastic change, indeed even complete obliteration, at any given moment- heros become villains, villains become heros, main characters become mere pawns. perhaps most frustrating this time around is the virtual imprisonment of Duncan Idaho within a no-ship to hide his presence from the Matres. still, he is vitally important to the main thrust of the novel and to the conclusion, which is perhaps the most brilliant and perplexing twist Herbert has ever thrown at us. after much head-scratching and pondering, it seems to me the perfect end to the greatest sci-fi epic ever.
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